Good post asking the right questions about Egypt subsidy-busting plan. The biggest question I have is, considering that the approach is introducing quotas per family (all income levels having the same quota), is how quickly can this system be implemented? Sounds like a plan for in a year or two at best, not something you can implement now to deal with an urgent budget deficit.

Issandr El Amrani is a Cairo-based writer and consultant. His reporting and commentary on the Middle East and North Africa has appeared in The Economist, London Review of Books, Financial Times, The National, The Guardian, Time and other publications. He also publishes one of the longest-running blog in the region, www.arabist.net.